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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29638764">Smoke to Flames</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Krayolacolor/pseuds/Krayolacolor'>Krayolacolor</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Creepypasta x Readers [7]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Creepypasta - Fandom, Marble Hornets</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Bisexual Tim, Creepypasta x Reader - Freeform, F/M, Gen, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Marble Hornest (Web Series) Spoilers, Past Character Death, Reader-Insert, Tim is sad, interconnected story, part of a series</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 20:01:11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,871</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29638764</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Krayolacolor/pseuds/Krayolacolor</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It was funny how being a klutz landed You right in the arms of a guy like Tim. Shy, a little anxious, strong, caring, he was almost perfect. But he's secretive, he makes excuses, he's paranoid and seems a little less than genuine sometimes. When You find out about what he's hiding things get far more dangerous than You planned for.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Timothy "Tim" W. | Masky/Reader</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Creepypasta x Readers [7]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2177397</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. How you Meet</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Same note as the others, writing gets better.</p><p>Key:<br/>(y/n) = your name, (f/c) = favorite color, (f/b) = Favorite band, (f/ic) = Favorite Ice cream, (f/d) = favorite drink</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was a beautiful day for a walk and that's exactly what you were doing in the park on the slightly breezy, but warm Friday afternoon. You were walking down the path wearing a (f/b) t-shirt, blue jean shorts, and a pair of (f/c) high top converse, your jacket tied around your waist. As you walk you start nodding your head to the beat of the song playing on your IPod.</p><p>You look up at the trees as you walk you didn’t even notice someone was standing on the path until you ran into them, falling back from the impact.</p><p>“Ouch!” You grumble rubbing your back.</p><p>“Hey are you okay? I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have been standing in the middle of a walking path.” A male voice says frantically as he kneels down beside you.</p><p>You look up and are greeted by deep brown eyes. You scan his face, taking in his appearance. He has dark brown hair, sideburns, he looked tired but seemed that he was used to it as his movements were not slow, he has on a tan jacket and blue jeans.</p><p>“Yeah I’m, fine…Thanks.” You mumble as he helps you to your feet.</p><p>“No problem. I’m Tim, by the way. What’s your name?” Tim asks handing you your IPod.</p><p>You look up at the slightly older man, “I’m (Y/n), nice to meet you Tim.” You laugh a bit. “I really fell for you a minute ago, didn’t I?”</p><p>Tim laughs, it’s deep and smooth, and completely contagious you find as you can’t help, but laugh as well.</p><p>“Yeah, I guess you did.” He smiles, “Say, you wanna walk with me, (Y/n)?” Tim asks.</p><p>“Sure.” You say with a smile.</p><p>The two of you walk and talk about your likes and dislikes. You find that you and Tim have a lot in common as you talk and joke. You two are fast friends.</p><p>Time passes almost unnoticed by the two of you, until Tim looks up and sees the sun is setting.</p><p>“Uhh.. (Y/n), I, uh have to… I gotta- I need to leave.” Tim stutters, tripping over his words.</p><p>“I understand, is it work or something?” You ask him.</p><p>“W-work…”  He mutters. “I had a nice time talking (Y/n),” He pulls a piece of paper and a pen out of his jacket pocket and hurriedly scribbles something down, “call me sometime.” He hands you the paper and flashes a smile before walking off.</p><p>You smile as you pocket the paper and start heading home.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Are We Friends Yet?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Spring had sprung, and it was beautiful. Flowers grew everywhere, you had left your (f/c) jacket at home now, you don't need it anymore. You were walking back to the hiking trail, where you met Tim, sending him a text to let him know you were there. But your attention lasp had you running right into someone and falling back.</p><p>“(Y/n)!” A familiar voice spoke up, and you look up to see Tim. He holds out a hand, “You really need to look where you're going.” He chuckles as he helps you up.</p><p>You blush slightly, “I'm usually not so clumsy.” You confess.</p><p>Tim smirks, “That make me special?” He asks, raising his eyebrows playfully.</p><p>You push him, “Shut up.” You laugh, the older boy laughing with you, a deep rumbling noise. His tired eyes seemed a little less so. “So, we're going to the pond right?”</p><p>Tim stiffens a little, “That's on the other side of the park, across the tunnel…” he swallows nervously. “Maybe we shouldn't go that way… there is an ice cream cart down the way, we could stop by there, on me, instead?” He covers up his subtle panic with a smile.</p><p>You nod quietly, “Yeah, sure, I love (f/ic)!” You say and Tim calms down considerably. You wonder what's on the other side of the tunnel that's got him so scared, but you don't ask. </p><p>“Really? Me too.” He purrs as you both walk through the park to the ice cream vender, chatting about your days. You learn that Tim works in construction around the area, sometimes hopping upstate for a while. But that's a little funny to you, because construction usually stops at night, but Tim said he had to leave for work.</p><p>“So what was that work you had to do last week?” You ask.</p><p>“Oh, sorry, my friend Jessica, she lives a few hours from here, she asked me to come down for the weekend. We both... lost some people and we meet up every once in a while to be sure we're both okay. I just, didn't want you to think I was skipping out on you, but I guess I kinda did…” He looks down.</p><p>“Hey, it's okay, I'm sorry to hear about what happened, but I'm glad you have your friend and she has you.” You smile reassuringly and Tim smiles back. You continue on your walk. It's a nice time, and by the time you have to leave you hug Tim. He seems a little startled, but hugs you back a few seconds later, his strong arms wrapped around you, the smell of smoke and cologne clinging to him.</p><p>“See you soon,” you say pulling back, “bye!” You give a half wave and walk back towards your car.</p><p>“I'll call you, (Y/n).” Tim waves back, watching you go.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. I Think I'm F-Falling For You</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Meeting Tim at the park once a week was easily the highlight of every week. He is sweet and hard working, his taste in music is particularly nice and he's introduced you to a few new bands that you really like. You have learned a little more about Tim in the time you spend together, he's very much a disaster bi, he loves to gush about his cat, he keeps in touch with old friends, and he is pretty secretive about his hobbies.</p><p>But all in all, Tim is a good guy. A good guy who has come to anticipate when you trip and catch you consistently.</p><p>“(Y/n), whoa, now, watch your step.” The man chuckles, holding his arm out to stop you from tripping over a branch that you didn't see laying on the ground.</p><p>You laugh, “You caught me, like always. Say, how are you so good at spotting these things?” You ask, stepping over the branch as you start walking again.</p><p>Tim rubs the back of his neck, “Oh, I had a friend, his name was Jay, he was a cluts so I learned to check for “trip hazards” pretty fast around him.” He explains, his face lightly tinted pink.</p><p>“Ooo, was he a crush of yours?” You tease lightly.</p><p>Tim blushes, “No… he was just a friend.” He mutters, disaster bi strikes again.</p><p>You smile, "It's alright, you can keep your crushes. What's Jay up to now? You guys still talk?" You ask innocently.</p><p>The man walking beside you looks down, seeming to pull in on himself, "Jay… isn't around these days.." he's not subtle about the implications.</p><p>You reach out and take Tim's hand, "I'm sorry to hear that…"</p><p>"No need to be sorry, it was years ago."</p><p>"Doesn't mean it stops hurting… You wanna tell me about him?" You ask.</p><p>Tim smiles a little, "Jay was… a disaster. He always wanted to do what he thought was right, he worked so hard to do the right thing, and protect people, he was a good guy. Clumsy and a bad liar and a big dumb heart of gold. Always in trouble, waiting to be rescued." Tim laughs softly, "We were kind of friends in college, and fell out after it, but he kinda crashed into my life like a wrecking ball, lying about finished that god awful Marble Hornets film, bringing up the past in ways I hated, but damn if running away with him wasn't what I wanted when things got crazy again… I could've thrown him over my shoulder and ran until I couldn't… I never got the chance to."</p><p>You lean your head on Tim's shoulder as you listen, nodding softly every so often to show you were listening. You smile softly, "I bet you were his hero, always coming to the rescue."</p><p>Tim laughs, wet with quiet tears, "Yeah, until I couldn't run anymore…"</p><p>"Got any running left in you?" You ask, looking up at him.</p><p>Tim wipes his eyes before looking at you, half smiling, "You know I just might."</p><p>You smile back.</p><p>The two of you walk quiet for a time before, "What's Marble Hornets?"</p><p>Tim jumps, startled, "Oh, well, it's this dumb movie that my friend Brian's friend Alex was making back in college, but it sucked." Tim looks away from you, purposefully trying to ignore the question without explaining.</p><p>You hum, wondering if the film was posted anywhere, deciding to look later you change the topic and pick up where you both left off, everything was right as rain once again.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. CrushCrushCrush</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When you get home, after another little "date", at least you like to think of them as dates, but you haven't asked Tim what he thinks about them yet, you sit down with your laptop to watch Netflix for a while. But before you click into Netflix you remember something.</p><p>"Marble Hornets! Oh yeah, gotta look that up." You say to yourself and quickly type the name into Google.</p><p>You are surprised to see the first thing that comes up upon searching for Marble Hornets was a YouTube channel. The videos stopped uploading years ago, and you aren't sure what exactly they all are, but your first guess is that they are either behind the scenes or actually footage of Tim's friend's college movie. So you switch the video order to oldest first, grab a drink, (f/d) of course, and start the Introduction video. You are instantly confused as the video explains, over footage of driving someplace, that the person uploading these videos is doing so after the filming ended, and weird things seemed to have happened too. </p><p>You scrunch up your face, Tim wasn't that old, he was in his twenties, but this seemed to take place years after college, and all these videos stopped years ago… did Tim lie about his age? You aren't sure but you keep watching anyway.</p><p>It doesn't take you long to notice that you are missing a part of this story as a channel called "totheark" keeps popping up in your recommendations, tagged with "marble" and "hornets" so you watch those videos too, hopping from one channel to the other and going by the dates to know when to watch.</p><p>The story that unfolds before you as you scribble down dates and notes and videos, Google codes and watch every video carefully, is one of fear, loss, and deception. The men shown to you from the footage of an old tape recording camera soon become real to you, this whole disaster paints itself to be someone trying to help, to solve all the pieces and find everyone, make sure everything is okay, soon devolved into a struggle to survive…</p><p>You soon learn that the person uploading these videos is Tim's friend Jay, and with how things are progressing, (and what Tim already told you) you don't think this story will end well.</p><p>By the time you finish the last Entry it is well past midnight and you are left staring at the screen of your laptop in silent horror. There is a low buzzing in the back of your brain. You reach for your phone, going to Tim's contact and hitting call. The line rings for a minute.</p><p>"(Y/n)? It's three AM!" Tim's voice is absent of the roughness of sleep, he was awake when you called.</p><p>"Tim… when were you in college?" You ask quietly.</p><p>"(Y/n), did you call me at three in the morning to ask about when I went to college?" The man sounds mildly exasperated.</p><p>"Tim, what is Marble Hornets?"</p><p>The line goes silent for a moment, "Fuck- (Y/n), you didn't- you didn't look for that, did you?"</p><p>You swallow, "Why have you been lying to me… what happened to you? What… what is that thing?!"</p><p>Tim is quiet for a moment, "I will be there soon, okay? I'll tell you everything. Okay?"</p><p>You don't ask why Tim knows where you live considering he's never been to your house, after everything you saw you wouldn't be surprised if he was actually stalking you. "Okay." You say quietly and Tim hangs up. You turn on every light in your house and stand in your kitchen making coffee while you wait for Tim to get here.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Heart to Heart</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It isn't long before Tim is knocking on your door, you open it without fear of what this man is capable of doing. Tim is wearing that jacket, the one in the videos, and he seems anxious, watching you shut and lock your door.</p><p>Tim is the first to speak, "Did you watch all of it?"</p><p>"Yeah…" you gesture to your table filled with notes and codes and scribbling as you quickly jot something down without looking from your screen.</p><p>Tim cringes slightly, like the sight is familiar to him.</p><p>"Tim… when were you in college?"</p><p>The man grips his sleeves, "2006. That's when Alex started his movie." </p><p>"So you did lie about your age."</p><p>"No I didn't- I…"</p><p>You interrupt him, "You can't be twenty-seven now, if you were twenty-seven in 2014!"</p><p>"Yes, I can!"</p><p>"How?!" </p><p>"Because-" the man reached up to his neck and starts rubbing at it angrily, until make-up is rubbed off on his hands and what looks like rope burn shows starkly against his pale skin, "Because I'm dead!" He yells back at you, lifting his chin to show the mark that rests flush against his jaw. "Because I killed myself after all that shit happened! Can you blame me? My best friend died, all my other friends died, I had to kill a man I used to trust after I watched him kill the only person I thought I had left to care about… I didn't last a week." Tim grips his arms tightly, breathing heavily trying to calm down.</p><p>You take a step back, "I don't… I don't understand.."</p><p>Tim looks back up at you and sighs softly, looking over to your couch he sits, "The monster that used to watch me,"</p><p>"The Operator?"</p><p>"Yeah… the Operator gave up on us after we died, and… it left. But, the Operator isn't the only thing out there, in fact, it's one of the weakest interdimensional beings I've ever had inside my head, kinda pathetic if you ask me, but that is beside the point. Do you, do you know about Slenderman?" Tim asks.</p><p>You nod slowly, "Yeah, that game everyone was obsessed with in like 2013?"</p><p>Tim nods, "He's no game. And he also hates the Operator because it copied him, it's not from around here, and it decided that it was going to do what Slenderman was doing, but worse… Slenderman isn't good, but… he has rules, he has thought, he's not a viral husk hellbent on infecting the entirety of the human race to feed off of us… well, he kind of does that, but not that way… anyway- The Operator jeopardizes Slenderman, and by extension the rest of his species, entire existence. If the Operator somehow gained control over enough people he'd wipe out all of humanity, and to really simplify things if humans disappeared, Slenders would have nothing to eat except each other, so…"</p><p>You hold up a hand, "Okay, okay, I get this, how does this relate to you being a dead guy up and walking around?" You ask.</p><p>Tim shakes his head, "Sorry, sorry, my head's all scrambled… Slenderman uses Undead, that's what I am, to work for him, and stop the Operator from spreading… I.. I'm technically supposed to be working right now but," Tim pulls up his sleeve to show you a weird looking symbol drawn on his wrist, "I'm slipping under the radar right now so Boss isn't pissed that I'm telling you all this… He'd definitely ground me if found out, so this is between us, okay?"</p><p>You nod but raise an eyebrow, "Ground you? Like you're a teenager who snuck out at night?"</p><p>Tim shrugs, "More like a funeral without a coffin and flowers. I mean he'll put me in a hole and make me dig my way out of it." Tim looks away from your shocked expression, "Yeah… I told you He wasn't good…" Tim stands, "Look… I, I get it if you don't want to keep, being friends or… whatever, I can leave and never come back,"</p><p>You reach out and grab Tim's wrist, "I didn't say that… I'm not mad that you didn't tell me all this, after hearing it, I understand. But I'm not asking you to leave… I'm just, I'm astounded you trust me this much."</p><p>Tim blushes softly, "I mean, yeah… I thought you deserved to know.. If we were… going to go anywhere, with this." He makes a vague gesture between the two of you and you smile softly.</p><p>"I wouldn't mind that."</p>
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